


Until We Get There

by allyasavedtheday



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: +1, 5 Times, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, POV Multiple, POV Outsider, Panic Attacks, everyone else is keenly observant, i think, stiles and derek are conveniently oblivious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-29
Updated: 2013-12-29
Packaged: 2018-01-06 06:47:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1103722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allyasavedtheday/pseuds/allyasavedtheday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times everyone else realises Stiles and Derek are in love and one time Stiles and Derek maybe realise it too</p>
            </blockquote>





	Until We Get There

**Author's Note:**

  * For [warmth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/warmth/gifts).



> This fic cropped up because Hela and I were talking about sterek and their potential and all the wonderful things like that when she provided me with, quite possibly, the most accurate and perfect summation of where sterek are now and what they could be  
> Said summation being: they aren't there yet, but when they get there, they're gonna _get there_  
>  We then immediately decided this needed to be in a fic, so yeah now I have 5+1 fic on my hands, written solely for that line and that line alone, so enjoy?
> 
> Characters don't belong to me!

Lydia doesn’t know everything. But she does know most things – usually before everyone else does.

Which is why it comes as no surprise to her that she’s the first one to pick up on this particular nugget of information.

Said nugget is that Stiles and Derek are hopelessly attracted to each other and no one else can see it – including them.

It’s about three weeks after Derek comes back to town when she stumbles upon the realisation. Scott insists on a pack night - they never call it that, he’s doing it for Derek’s benefit – in order to integrate Derek back into the fold. Things have been a tad awkward since his return with his official role in the pack uncertain. He’s not Scott’s beta but he’s also by no means an omega.  _It’s complicated_ , Stiles’ voice parrots in her head.

She’s standing with Stiles and Allison, chatting about the new novel they have to read for English Lit. when Stiles, who had previously be leaning lazily against the wall, catches sight of something and immediately stands up straight, his eyes widening. And then his expression settles into something soft and fond as he looks at whatever it is over Lydia’s shoulder.

She looks behind her, following his gaze when her eyes land on Derek Hale standing awkwardly just inside the doorway of the living room as Scott scuttles off to the kitchen to get him a drink. She looks back in time to see Stiles lifting his drink in greeting and giving Derek a small –  _thrilled_  – smile.

She looks between them for a few moments until Derek is pulled into a conversation with Isaac and Stiles’ attention returns to her and Allison. She gives him a meaningful look, clearly demanding she wants an explanation for what just happened but Stiles’ face scrunches up in confusion so she lets it go.

 _Or_ she lets it go until she starts noticing the looks they surreptitiously send each other throughout the night when they think no one else is looking.

Sometimes Isaac wishes he and Derek were closer. It’s something he’s hoped for since Derek gave him the bite and they’ve certainly had their moments – conversations of anchors and his father float into his mind – but things have been so strained with them since before Derek left that it’s hard to know where they stand with each other.

He wants to reach out to Derek, to look up to him, to go back to the days where he’d automatically be able to look to Derek for guidance. But they  _are_  making progress; it’s just slow going.

In fact, they have a really good conversation when Derek first comes back where they talk things through and it feels like they’ve turned over a new leaf, like they can begin again. But there’s still a barrier between them.

He doesn’t really mind because he figures there’s a barrier between Derek and the rest of the world. With one exception, he soon discovers.

* * *

 

Stiles and Derek are fighting.

It’s not really surprising because Stiles and Derek fight more often than they don’t. Scott jokes that they disagree with each other just for the sake of disagreeing and for the most part, Isaac concurs.

This fight is real though.

Because Stiles is talking a mile a minute, voice becoming thicker the more emotional he gets. And Isaac can see the way Derek is clenching his fists in frustration, like he wants to lash out but wouldn’t dare do so. They’re fighting because Stiles went on a midnight snack run and left his phone at home even though there’s a wendigo on the loose. And when Derek tried to call him about something in the bestiary, he never picked up and ended up with a string of unanswered calls until Derek basically assumed the worst and thought him missing.

Isaac can admit, it was a pretty careless thing to do – especially considering their track record – but he’s also willing to see it as the honest mistake it is.

Derek, on the other hand, is seething as he verbally spars with Stiles for what feels like hours.

Eventually Stiles throws his hands up in the air in exasperation and demands, “Why do you even care?”

It stops Derek in his tracks. Isaac watches with rapt attention as the fight completely dissolves out of Derek and all that’s left is a traitorous vulnerable expression that he quickly shuts away once he gets a hold of himself. He mutters out something about how he’s sick of saving Stiles’ ass all the time but it’s too late. Stiles has noticed.

He’s looking at Derek completely awestruck like he’s just realising for the first time that maybe Derek  _does_  care. So he just nods, accepts Derek’s pathetic excuse and brushes past him to take a seat on the couch, his hand lingering on Derek’s arm just a second longer than necessary.

Isaac stares at them in disbelief. He’s never seen Derek react that way to any of them. But as if that wasn’t enough, he’s never seen Stiles give up so easily on a fight when he’s convinced he’s in the right.

It’s that night that Isaac realises there’s a silent understanding between Stiles and Derek, one that’s quietly slipped past all their awareness’s and settled between the two of them. It’s something that, thinking back on it, he recognises. It’s a trust thing, he realises. They allow themselves to slip up occasionally, they let each other see what they’re really feeling and trust the other not to say anything about it; just acknowledge the information and store it away for safe keeping.

It’s the last thing he expects to see between those two but, oddly, it makes sense.

* * *

 

Getting stuck in a dank cell with Stiles and Derek is the last way Allison expects to be spending her Sunday evening.

It was rogue hunters.

They took Derek for obvious reasons though she thinks they probably didn’t realise he isn’t the alpha anymore. Again, taking her is also somewhat obvious; she’s a hunter who neglected her own legacy and sided with werewolves –  _which isn’t entirely true, she_ changed _her legacy_ , she thinks firmly, but the hunters aren’t going to look at it like that. Stiles, she suspects, is a mistake. The hunters had no reason to believe he was human until he fell unconscious as a result of a single blow to the head.

Which lands them here; in this damp room, sitting in awkward, stilted silence. She and Derek have been civil since he’s come back but things are still tense between them, she thinks they probably always will be until they really talk about their issues.

It had been odd when they’d both reached for Stiles at the same time to try and wake him up but Derek had quickly backed up without much fight. Allison sits with Stiles’ head in her lap now, idly running her fingers through his hair once she discovers trying to wake him up is futile.

He stirs after a while and her hand stills. “Stiles?” she whispers. Out of the periphery of her vision, she sees it catches Derek’s attention and he watches them intensely. Stiles head lolls a bit as he moves and then his eyes slowly blink open.

He looks up at Allison with a brief look of recognition before he seems to remember what happened and he sits bolt upright, shooting out of her lap. He clutches his forehead from the head rush and ends up collapsing against the wall before she can even really say anything.

It happens in a rush after that.

Stiles’ breathing quickens, ratcheting up every so often, and his hands start to shake from where his fingers are dug in his hair.

“Stiles?” she asks worriedly. “Are you okay?”

His heartbeat must be going crazy because Derek is up and over to them in an instant, crouching in front of Stiles.

“Stiles, look at me,” Derek commands firmly. Stiles has his head bent as he braces his elbows on his knees and keeps his eyes squeezed shut.

Allison watches frantically, her hands itching to reach out and comfort him somehow but she knows her touch might not be welcome.

Derek tries unsuccessfully to get Stiles to focus on him for the next few minutes and eventually, he slowly takes hold of Stiles’ wrists, gently pulling them out of Stiles’ hair, and holds his hands tightly.

“Stiles,” he calls again and this time Stiles actually looks up and Allison breathes a sigh of relief. He stares at Derek mostly unseeing as he eyes go in and out of focus but Derek seems spurred by the progress.

“I want you to breathe with me,” Derek instructs. “Okay? Can you do that?”

Derek takes a deep, exaggerated breath and Allison watches Stiles meagrely attempt to do the same. He’s not looking at her but she smiles reassuringly all the same. Derek keeps taking in big gulps of air and Stiles slowly starts to calm down until he takes his first unhindered breath and collapses back against the wall in relief.

Stiles’ eyes flicker between them and it doesn’t take long for Allison to see the tears pooling at the corners. She gives him a tremulous smile and it’s all it takes for him to fall against her chest as he sobs. Her arms encircle him immediately as she starts whispering nonsensical reassurances about how Scott will find them soon and notices with some surprise that Derek is still holding Stiles’ hands.

She chances a look at him and sees Derek watching Stiles carefully. His forehead is creased with concern as his thumbs draw absent circles over the backs of Stiles’ hands. She’s never seen Derek like this. She’s seen him look worried and angry and maybe even frightened but she’s never seen this quiet concern for someone else.

Eventually Stiles’ sobs peter out and he turns his head from where it’d been buried in the crook of Allison’s neck, regarding Derek warily. “How’d you know how to do that?” he asks, voice raspy.

Derek startles at the question. He looks at Allison unsurely like he doesn’t know if he wants to say this in front of her but it seems his need to appease Stiles wins out because he mumbles, “I used to get panic attacks after the fire.”

“Really?” Stiles whispers. It slips out of his mouth accidentally, Allison guesses, but Derek just sort of laughs ruefully.

“Laura was the only one who could calm me down,” he continues.

The malicious part of Allison’s mind; the part that makes her feel responsible for her family’s wrongdoings simply because no one else will actually man up and  _take_  that responsibility, says that Laura was the only who could calm him down because she was the only one there to do it. But she ignores it in favour of watching the wide-eyed stare that Stiles gets.

“She’d get you to copy her breathing?”

Allison suspects he’s mostly asking because of the burning desire Scott and Stiles secretly have for Derek to open up – Stiles more secretly than Scott but still.

“She’d make me count her heartbeats,” Derek answers in a way that almost sounds fond. “But I didn’t think you were exactly in the right frame of mind to take my pulse.”

Stiles gives a little laugh before meeting Allison’s gaze again. She only smiles at him and ruffles his hair, which seems to do the trick because Stiles settles back against the wall again. Derek doesn’t move back to his original spot across the small room, instead sitting on the other side of Stiles. She watches them lock eyes, watches the silent conversation they have through guarded looks and then watches the way they both look away like something important clearly hasn’t just happened between them.

The faintly embarrassed looks on both their faces are so out of place she almost laughs. Instead she just covertly shoves Stiles until he’s pressed up right next to Derek and smiles to herself as Derek stiffens and blinks in surprise before leaning into the touch and closing his eyes.

Huh. Maybe Lydia has a point.

* * *

 

John Stilinski is just coming in the door from the longest shift of his life – it’s the supernatural’s fault obviously.

He drags his feet as he hangs his coat on the bannister and drops his belt on the hall table – he’ll pick it up again later when he’s going to bed – then moves to check on Stiles. The sight that greets him in the living room isn’t what he expects.

Derek’s there, which isn’t much of a surprise since he’s been spending more and more time here lately, and Stiles is asleep – again, it’s not that big of a surprise since Stiles seems to nap whenever he gets the chance nowadays. What  _is_  a surprise, however, is that Stiles is curled into Derek’s side, snuffling in to his chest and drooling on his shirt and Derek- Derek is  _letting him_.

Granted, Derek’s also asleep but even unconscious he’s usually aware of when Stiles is bothering him. John has heard countless tales of the boy grabbing his son’s wrist in a vice-like grip whenever he dares attempt draw on Derek’s face while he’s sleeping.

At a closer glance, he sees the way Derek’s arm wraps around Stiles protectively and the way he sighs contently each time Stiles curls himself impossibly closer.

He regards them for a moment; the way their grips seem to cling but also seem gentle, the way it looks comfortable and practised like this isn’t the first time they’ve done this. He thinks about the positively scandalised look Stiles would get on his face if John were to even  _suggest_  his feelings for Derek might be more than he currently believes them to be and grins to himself.

John considers waking them, at the very least so Derek won’t have a crick in his neck in the morning, but in the end he just pulls the blanket off the back of the armchair and drapes it over them.

Let them live in their denial for a little while longer.

* * *

 

“How don’t they see it?” Allison asks bemusedly, leaning on Scott’s arm as they watch Stiles and Derek talking quietly from a distance. Their heads are bent close and whatever they’re talking about seems pretty intense. Scott’s, very graciously, not eavesdropping since it seems like too private a moment to do so.

He knots his fingers with Allison’s and smiles with just slightest curve of his lips, “They’re not there yet,” he answers surely. “But when they get there,” he says, shaking his head fondly, “ _man_  are they gonna get there.”

Allison lifts her head from his shoulder and dimples at him, “You think?”

“I  _know_ ,” Scott corrects.

Allison huffs out a little laugh before shuffling around a bit so she can lean back against Scott’s chest while he wraps his arms around her, “I hope you’re right,” she whispers.

He hopes he is too.

It’s a weird fit, he knows that. On the surface it sounds like a complete disaster. Anyone who didn’t know them like Scott does would probably say they’d kill each other in five minutes if they ever got together. But he knows better. He knows how much they actually care about each other underneath all the bickering and the constant insistences that they’re not friends or they don’t like each other or whatever excuse they’re making up this week.

Because maybe in the beginning it was always circumstance pushing them together – usually Scott’s circumstances, he can admit – but somewhere along the way they got under each other’s skin. And now they’re stuck there for good.

He focuses on them again just in time to see Stiles’ fingers brush over Derek’s palm quick as lightning like he’s hoping Derek won’t notice – which is stupid because Derek always notices. Scott watches in amusement as Derek’s ears go pink and Stiles looks away awkwardly before connecting his gaze with Scott’s. Scott smiles at him and allows Stiles to take the easy way out by letting his best friend pull him into a conversation.

They aren’t ready yet but they will be.

* * *

 

+1.

“Did you know Lydia thinks we like each other?” Stiles asks conversationally. Derek is technically here because they’re supposed to be organising a schedule for a staking out the weird burrow in the woods that definitely doesn’t belong to a rabbit. Instead they’re watching a movie that Stiles is only half paying attention to.

“Seriously?” Derek replies incredulously, turning to look at him – and yup, his  eyebrows are baffled about it too. “Isaac said the same thing a few weeks ago.”

“I’m pretty sure I heard Scott and Allison talking about us the other week too.”

“I definitely heard Scott and Allison talking about us the other week,” Derek confirms and Stiles snorts.

“Are they all insane?” he asks, flailing his hands animatedly.  _Finally_  he’s not the, “delusional one” like Lydia says, Derek understands how weird it is too. “We’d kill each other if we were ever together.”

“I know. It’s crazy,” Derek agrees. “We don’t even have anything in common.”

“Right!” Stiles replies vehemently. “Like you like history and I like…” he trails off, remembering he actually  _does_  love history and has listened to Derek talk about it for hours and hung on every word he’s said. He falters for a moment because there must be  _something_ they don’t have in common. They fight enough to suggest there is. Coming up with nothing he just waves his hands dismissively. “Okay bad example but there’s plenty of things we can’t agree on.”

“Right.”

“Right.”

They both turn resolutely back to the screen and Stiles almost smirks at the way their words completely disregard what they were just trying to prove.

It’s funny until he starts thinking about all the things he and Derek both like and the way, even though they’ll fight about it, they usually think along the same wavelength when it comes to planning how to defeat the big bad. Or how Derek comes over for dinner sometimes because Stiles doesn’t like thinking about Derek eating alone every night. And the way he sometimes falls asleep on Derek completely on accident if they end up talking for too long while Derek practically  _flaunts_  his comfy shoulder in Stiles’ face. 

_And oh dear god have he and Derek been pseudo-dating for the last like six months?_

He knows the exact moment Derek realises it too because they both slowly look away from the TV and turn to each other with wide, questioning eyes.

“It seems we might have missed a few things,” Stiles says quietly, attempting to laugh until he catches sight of the look on Derek’s face and it dies in his throat.

He swallows hard as Derek’s blank expression dips into an almost-scowl. That  _could_ be the face he makes when he’s trying to figure something out but it could also be an angry scowl – all of Derek’s scowls look really similar okay, it’s hard to keep track sometimes.

Stupidity or his complete disregard for his own self-preservation seems to spur him forward until Stiles ends up blurting out something he never thought he’d say to  _Derek Hale_. “So maybe I kind of…like you? But like,  _only sometimes_. I mean- sometimes we have these… “moments”,” he cringes at the word, gesturing vaguely with his hand.  _God this is a trainwreck_. “I just mean there are times where I sort of like you and I think you might sort of like me back? Sometimes? Y’know occasionally, like when we-“

Derek cuts him off, grabbing hold of his shoulders and pressing their lips together with purpose. Stiles eyes flutter shut as he feels himself fall into the touch. It only lasts a moment but oh god, a moment is totally enough. A moment makes him want to sing with woodland creatures and fly without wings and all those other song lyrics that suddenly make total fucking sense.

Derek pulls away enough to look him in the eye and Stiles has a tough time moving his gaze away from Derek’s lips to actually meet his stare. But when he does, he just swallows drily and mumbles, “Like when we do that.”

He expects Derek to smirk smugly but instead he just sort of nods to himself in acceptance and reaches over and laces his fingers with Stiles, turning immediately back to the movie he’s totally not paying attention to. Stiles stares at him in awe and watches the way Derek’s jaw ticks and his hand tenses like he’s waiting for rejection. Stiles finds himself slipping into a dopey grin and facing forward again.

“I guess I like you then,” Stiles whispers giddily.

“Ditto,” Derek mumbles in a strangled voice that just makes Stiles beam with glee. Derek just said “ditto.”  _Derek likes him back_.

He feels Derek relax next to him and he squeezes his hand once for good measure. He chances one last look in Derek’s direction and sees him smiling quietly to himself and he’s almost certain his heart skips a beat.  _Well, that’s new_.

In a fit of bravery, Stiles lifts their joined hands and tucks himself into Derek’s side, sighing happily when he feels Derek’s lips press against his hair.

Maybe they’re there now.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Welp I hope you liked it! I don't even know what this is tbh
> 
> I figure if you've read anything I've written before you'll know I'm a /terribly/ lazy editor so feel free to point out a mistake if you notice it (though i'm not American so i could just be spelling the word differently ;))
> 
> Annnnd you can find me at [ allyasavedtheday](http://allyasavedtheday.tumblr.com/) on tumblr :)


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